Stress, in particular states of negative affect, influences the efficiency of attentional processes and the direction of selective attention.
Moreover, the efficiency of attentional orienting towards a target was mirrored in the Posterior Contralateral Negativity (PCN), with PCN latencies being substantially delayed (by ∼70 ms) with local, versus global, targets.
The aim of Experiment 1 was to establish whether the type of content in working memory has an effect on the efficiency of attentional deployment.
In the present study, we investigated whether the efficiency of attentional filtering depends on the semantic category of the target or the distractor.
We used the Multiple Object Tracking (MOT) paradigm to explore whether the high-level biological status of the targets affects the efficiency of attentional selection and tracking.
If MT improves attentional control and the efficiency with which attentional allocation can be used in the service of working memory, the theoretical account of Smith and Ratcliff (2009) predicts that drift rates may increase with MT, without any changes in nondecision time.
A few studies have also used smaller set sizes of four items or larger sizes of 16 items, or have manipulated set size actively in an attempt to investigate the effects of contextual cueing on the efficiency of attentional selection (e.g., Annac et al., 2013; Chun & Jiang, 1998; Kunar et al., 2008; Makovski & Jiang, 2010).
We interpret both results as reflecting the reduced neural efficiency of attentional-control processes in high-anxious participants.
The Attention Network Test (ANT) will be used to quantify the processing efficiency within three attentional networks: alerting, orienting, and executive attention [ 44].
The study was designed to assess the speed and efficiency of visuospatial attentional orienting and the speed of visual processing and motor response in school-age children diagnosed with specific language impairment (SLI).
